1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to strollers and more particularly relates to strollers which are constructed and arranged to be folded for storage from erected conditions.
2. Prior Art
Strollers and buggies for infants have commonly been constructed so that they can be collapsed, or folded, for storage when they are not in use. In designs of this sort the stroller or buggy framework was often of heavy duty construction. The features of their constructions permitting folding were principally useful for storing the device in an attic or basement between periods of frequent usage or in packing them for travelling.
In many proposals the wheels and/or their suspensions had to be detached or at least partly disassembled or the handles disassembled, etc., in order for the device to be confined for storage. Devices of this sort were not conveniently foldable for hand carrying or convenient transport in an automobile because of the difficulties encountered in folding or collapsing them and because of their size and bulk when folded. An example of a device of this general sort is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,693,366.
In more recent times the requirements for usage of buggies and strollers have changed to the extent that the traditional design approaches have not always continued to be practical. In most urban environments a typical shopping excursion with an infant can involve driving an automobile to several shopping locations and spending only a short time at each. The ability to quickly fold and erect a stroller in these circumstances is essential. Moreover, many automobiles have storage spaces which are too limited to conveniently accept many traditional strollers, even when folded. Still further, because of the possibility of theft, strollers cannot be left unattended when their use in a particular building or space is inconvenient or prohibited. In these circumstances the strollers must be carried by the user.
Stroller constructions have been proposed which avoid some of the shortcomings of the prior art strollers. The most common of these designs is a stroller which is transversely collapsed into a configuration not unlike an oversized folded umbrella. Examples of this kind of construction are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,062,555; 4,032,173; and 4,083,579. While these strollers were much more easily carried about when folded and more conveniently stored between uses, their folded configurations still restricted the user's ability to handle an infant and/or additional hand carried items when carrying the folded stroller.